cookymonster wrote:I applied in the branch and got denied, even called the appeal line (888-609-7805) and was given a firm "no." Wish I knew this card was coming along when I opened the Southwest card two months ago .

cookymonster wrote:I applied in the branch and got denied, even called the appeal line (888-609-7805) and was given a firm "no." Wish I knew this card was coming along when I opened the Southwest card two months ago .

Did they specify why you were declined?

-Steph

"Too many credit cards opened recently" - obviously the 5/24 rule without explicitly saying so. I shouldn't be surprised, but after reading that people were getting around it by going to the branches and after just hitting 5 very recently it is a bit disappointing.

fareastwarriors wrote:I'm a rookie here ~ Can I easily transfer my UR points to another person?

Easily if they live at the same address. That is completely legal. If you start talking about someone other than living with you, it can bite you in the ass. Heard that Chase is not very kind about that move.

Just applied online and was approved for CSR. I was < 5/24 but was hesitant because I thought I was at the limit for total credit that Chase was willing to extend to me and wanted to wait until the initial rush was over for this card to deal with moving credit around. I was a bit surprised when I was instantly approved.

I will almost certainly be closing CSP within the next couple of months--still need to transfer my points and I have some reservations being held with the CSP that I don't want any confusion with.

fareastwarriors wrote:I'm a rookie here ~ Can I easily transfer my UR points to another person?

Easily if they live at the same address. That is completely legal. If you start talking about someone other than living with you, it can bite you in the ass. Heard that Chase is not very kind about that move.

The only way around it is for the account holder to transfer their points to Hyatt. That takes place immediately. Then a form can be filled out to transfer from one Hyatt account to another. It limits your use of the points but Hyatt is a good redemption rate. They also allow you to transfer to any other Hyatt account.

SRenaeP wrote:
I applied online this afternoon and went pending. I'm either 5/24 or 6/24 depending on if they go by month or actual day of signup. I'm debating if calling recon will help or hurt my odds.

-Steph

Same here. Can you let us know if you decided to call them? I think I'll do it in a day or two if nothing comes back.

The more I think about it, the more likely I *won't* call. I don't want to seem too eager. I'm hoping the fact that I actually use two out of the three Chase cards I have might make a difference. If I get declined, I will call recon then.

SRenaeP wrote:
The more I think about it, the more likely I *won't* call. I don't want to seem too eager. I'm hoping the fact that I actually use two out of the three Chase cards I have might make a difference. If I get declined, I will call recon then.

-Steph

I was in the same boat... for about 24 hours. I called the morning after I applied and just said 'The automated message said I'd have a decision in 2 weeks, is there any way to speed up that decision?' Lady went away for 2 minutes, came back approved.

SRenaeP wrote:
The more I think about it, the more likely I *won't* call. I don't want to seem too eager. I'm hoping the fact that I actually use two out of the three Chase cards I have might make a difference. If I get declined, I will call recon then.

-Steph

I was in the same boat... for about 24 hours. I called the morning after I applied and just said 'The automated message said I'd have a decision in 2 weeks, is there any way to speed up that decision?' Lady went away for 2 minutes, came back approved.

SRenaeP wrote:
The more I think about it, the more likely I *won't* call. I don't want to seem too eager. I'm hoping the fact that I actually use two out of the three Chase cards I have might make a difference. If I get declined, I will call recon then.

-Steph

Chase has an automated system you can call to check your approval status. If you use the automated system and it says you'll get an answer in 7-10 days, you're likely denied. If it says 30 days, you're likely approved and may want to call and speak to someone at recon.

I'm not an expert on manufactured spending; I've just read that it's gotten harder the last few years.

If you're $2000 short after 3 months I'd buy 4 American Express gift cards and put $500 each on them; the down sides are this will cost you $20 and to use them for online purchases and at the gas pump you have to register them over the phone, which is a PIA. You could also buy gift cards for Amazon, Walmart, etc, or work on your Xmas shopping for the year.

If you can think of any big annual or semiannual expenses (home or car insurance, taxes) you may want to time your application around when those are due.

I'd suggest prepaying anything you can: utilities, insurance, taxes (sites like https://www.pay1040.com/), stock up on household consumables, etc. Book Thanksgiving travel in advance (wow, that's at the tail end of the bonus window).

Gift cards are an option too -- I'd suggest only as a last resort because this is not viewed favorably by card issuers. AmEx has revoked bonus points for people doing this. I have not seen reports of this happening for Chase but let's not find out. If you do this, try to vary the final transaction amount (buy other stuff too!). When you have multiple transactions at a pharmacy/grocery store for $505.95 (or some multiple of $100 + card fee), it's obvious what is happening.

thanks! I have to get really creative with this. I just spent all big items like car insurance, two international plane tickets, and a big sofa.

Gas card is a great idea!

cookymonster wrote:I'm not an expert on manufactured spending; I've just read that it's gotten harder the last few years.

If you're $2000 short after 3 months I'd buy 4 American Express gift cards and put $500 each on them; the down sides are this will cost you $20 and to use them for online purchases and at the gas pump you have to register them over the phone, which is a PIA. You could also buy gift cards for Amazon, Walmart, etc, or work on your Xmas shopping for the year.

If you can think of any big annual or semiannual expenses (home or car insurance, taxes) you may want to time your application around when those are due.

SRenaeP wrote:
I applied online this afternoon and went pending. I'm either 5/24 or 6/24 depending on if they go by month or actual day of signup. I'm debating if calling recon will help or hurt my odds.

-Steph

Same here. Can you let us know if you decided to call them? I think I'll do it in a day or two if nothing comes back.

The more I think about it, the more likely I *won't* call. I don't want to seem too eager. I'm hoping the fact that I actually use two out of the three Chase cards I have might make a difference. If I get declined, I will call recon then.

-Steph

I decided to go ahead and call the recon line today, and was subsequently approved! I'm at 6/24, including two Chase Southwest cards, two Citi cards, an AMEX and a Synchrony. The reason the rep said my application was pending was because with the new Reserve card, my total credit with Chase would have exceeded $100k. He made no reference to my other open lines of credit. So, I just asked the rep to move the credit from one of my Southwest cards. I was then asked to re-verify income, home ownership, etc., and then two minutes later was approved.

One of my friends who was also pending called today as well, was asked to verify something on his credit report, and was then also approved. Both of us had very pleasant experiences. Should you be in a similar boat to mine, you might try to call

mpsz wrote:
Gift cards are an option too -- I'd suggest only as a last resort because this is not viewed favorably by card issuers. AmEx has revoked bonus points for people doing this. I have not seen reports of this happening for Chase but let's not find out. If you do this, try to vary the final transaction amount (buy other stuff too!). When you have multiple transactions at a pharmacy/grocery store for $505.95 (or some multiple of $100 + card fee), it's obvious what is happening.

The fee for AMEX is $4.95 (which is why I choose their cards over visa/mc, which are $5.95). If you buy all four at once, won't chase just see a single transaction of $2019.80? I guess anyone who's really worried could just vary the amounts on each card by a few dollars.

SRenaeP wrote:
The more I think about it, the more likely I *won't* call. I don't want to seem too eager. I'm hoping the fact that I actually use two out of the three Chase cards I have might make a difference. If I get declined, I will call recon then.

-Steph

Chase has an automated system you can call to check your approval status. If you use the automated system and it says you'll get an answer in 7-10 days, you're likely denied. If it says 30 days, you're likely approved and may want to call and speak to someone at recon.

SRenaeP wrote:
I applied online this afternoon and went pending. I'm either 5/24 or 6/24 depending on if they go by month or actual day of signup. I'm debating if calling recon will help or hurt my odds.

-Steph

Same here. Can you let us know if you decided to call them? I think I'll do it in a day or two if nothing comes back.

The more I think about it, the more likely I *won't* call. I don't want to seem too eager. I'm hoping the fact that I actually use two out of the three Chase cards I have might make a difference. If I get declined, I will call recon then.

-Steph

I decided to go ahead and call the recon line today, and was subsequently approved! I'm at 6/24, including two Chase Southwest cards, two Citi cards, an AMEX and a Synchrony. The reason the rep said my application was pending was because with the new Reserve card, my total credit with Chase would have exceeded $100k. He made no reference to my other open lines of credit. So, I just asked the rep to move the credit from one of my Southwest cards. I was then asked to re-verify income, home ownership, etc., and then two minutes later was approved.

One of my friends who was also pending called today as well, was asked to verify something on his credit report, and was then also approved. Both of us had very pleasant experiences. Should you be in a similar boat to mine, you might try to call

nolapepper wrote:What are your strategies in spending $4000 in the first three months ? My monthly expense is low, around $700

I would prepay a year's worth of electricity, natural gas and telephone. Car insurance and registration if the timing was right. In addition to prepaid AMEX/Visa cards that you would use later in the year in lieu of your own credit cards you might consider grocery store gift cards. Yes, you will lose out on 5/6% potential cash back on $1,500/$6,000 of purchases so this might be a last choice. Costco gift cards are a possibility. Gasoline gift cards? Maybe you can prepay your internet/cellular service? Basically, either prepay or purchase gift cards for what you would normally spend unless you are looking to get into true manufactured spending in which case Amex/Visa gift cards and then liquidate.

I stopped MSing when my RedCard, GoBank, BlueBird, and Serve were all shutdown. Like a number of other MSers I got in to reselling as a way to add some cash profit to my Hobby (and mask my MS transactions), but reselling deals have dried up with the influx of people looking to do the same.

I'll probably just use plastiq or radpad to pay my mortgage. I think they charge around 3%, so for $120 ($4000*.03) I'll get 100,000 URs. Eats in to the profit a bit, but really simple (I think, haven't done it before).

In Dec. 2014, I opened about 10 cards and generated about 750,000 miles. It was when manufactured spends were easier. I could be $3K worth of vanilla reloads at the CVS around the corner from my office every few days. Then the interwebs killed that party.

The deal is...it takes a long time for us to use 750K in points. We flew to Italy on business class, I took the family to Puerto Rico last year, we took a few short hops to Jax to see family, we took a few hops to NYC...and I think I still had points left.

But, a few months ago when the AMEX Plat card hit 100K points with their promo, I got back in the game. Got one for me and my wife and hit a few other promos. I think we're back up to 550,000 points.

I just signed up for the 100K sapphire reserve yesterday.

As far as spending, I own a small business and have a lot of monthly COGS expenses that I can use on these cards.

I credit report got dinged last year because I had emailed BofA through their secure webmail to cancel a card and they didn't. I had a whopping $18 late payment that hit me for 40 points. And according to Credit Karma, I'm about 740 now. I tried to contact BofA and plead my case, but they are pretty unwavering. Little things like this make it why I decided to move banking. I know it's petty and emotional, but being a customer for over 18 years...mortgage, banking, security boxes, etc...and they won't fix something as small as this.

Gustie13 wrote:I stopped MSing when my RedCard, GoBank, BlueBird, and Serve were all shutdown. Like a number of other MSers I got in to reselling as a way to add some cash profit to my Hobby (and mask my MS transactions), but reselling deals have dried up with the influx of people looking to do the same.

I'll probably just use plastiq or radpad to pay my mortgage. I think they charge around 3%, so for $120 ($4000*.03) I'll get 100,000 URs. Eats in to the profit a bit, but really simple (I think, haven't done it before).

Are you sure you can use Radpad to pay a mortgage? I'd heard it was only for verified rent. That said, IIRC, Radpad has no fees through the end of the year via their app and AndroidPay.

Gustie13 wrote:I stopped MSing when my RedCard, GoBank, BlueBird, and Serve were all shutdown. Like a number of other MSers I got in to reselling as a way to add some cash profit to my Hobby (and mask my MS transactions), but reselling deals have dried up with the influx of people looking to do the same.

I'll probably just use plastiq or radpad to pay my mortgage. I think they charge around 3%, so for $120 ($4000*.03) I'll get 100,000 URs. Eats in to the profit a bit, but really simple (I think, haven't done it before).

Are you sure you can use Radpad to pay a mortgage? I'd heard it was only for verified rent. That said, IIRC, Radpad has no fees through the end of the year via their app and AndroidPay.

-Steph

AndroidPay/end of the year free promotion died yesterday due to an overwhelming and unexpected response.Didn't last long.

Gustie13 wrote:I stopped MSing when my RedCard, GoBank, BlueBird, and Serve were all shutdown. Like a number of other MSers I got in to reselling as a way to add some cash profit to my Hobby (and mask my MS transactions), but reselling deals have dried up with the influx of people looking to do the same.

I'll probably just use plastiq or radpad to pay my mortgage. I think they charge around 3%, so for $120 ($4000*.03) I'll get 100,000 URs. Eats in to the profit a bit, but really simple (I think, haven't done it before).

Are you sure you can use Radpad to pay a mortgage? I'd heard it was only for verified rent. That said, IIRC, Radpad has no fees through the end of the year via their app and AndroidPay.

-Steph

AndroidPay/end of the year free promotion died yesterday due to an overwhelming and unexpected response.Didn't last long.

It's like these companies have never heard of the internet/going viral. I just read there's a three week backlog to actually get the physical CSR, once approved, because they don't have enough cards.

SRenaeP wrote:
Are you sure you can use Radpad to pay a mortgage? I'd heard it was only for verified rent. That said, IIRC, Radpad has no fees through the end of the year via their app and AndroidPay.
-Steph

Not sure. Their FAQ says no but some blogs say yes. Even if RadPad doesn't, Plastiq does.

fareastwarriors wrote:I'm a rookie here ~ Can I easily transfer my UR points to another person?

Easily if they live at the same address. That is completely legal. If you start talking about someone other than living with you, it can bite you in the ass. Heard that Chase is not very kind about that move.

The only way around it is for the account holder to transfer their points to Hyatt. That takes place immediately. Then a form can be filled out to transfer from one Hyatt account to another. It limits your use of the points but Hyatt is a good redemption rate. They also allow you to transfer to any other Hyatt account.

Fair enough, but as I recently discovered, it is sometimes FAR cheaper to book even Hyatt through the Chase UR site rather than converting to Hyatt points.

For example, I recently booked the Grand Hyatt in San Diego: $180/night worth of Chase Points, vs ~$270/night converting to Hyatt points.

Besides my Costco card, I have a 2% Fidelity card that I use for all auto-pays and that card never leaves the house. I have a 2% Priceline for everything else. Simple, easy and no hoops to jump through.

nolapepper wrote:What are your strategies in spending $4000 in the first three months ? My monthly expense is low, around $700

I would buy no fee gift cards for places I regularly shop like grocery stores, where you buy clothes, drug stores, etc.

I wish it would be hard for me to spend the $4k

If mine arrives within two weeks, I should be able to put my homeowner's insurance on it as well as 6-months of auto insurance. And I should be able to meet my $300 travel cost for this year on our road-trip vacation in a month or so.

My biggest problem isn't meeting the 4k spend; it's meeting the 4k spend without sacrificing 5X or 10X points/cash-back on some other card for purchases I will be making anyway.

A little off topic - some years ago, I put a freeze on my credit at all credit bureaus. How do I know whether it is still frozen? I just know how to take it off and it costs $5 - but not sure if I still have credit freeze

Gemini wrote:
Also, anyone know which bureau chase will pull from if I apply CSR?

Chase pulled from Equifax for the CSR but YMMV. The hard inquiry dropped my score by 4 points. I'm not a churner, so I only have 2 inquiries in the last 24 months. My mind is blown by how good the CSR offer is (100k UR sign-up bonus, $300/year in travel credit, access to Priority Pass lounges for you AND companions, 3x on travel and dining, 1.5x redemption on Ultimate Rewards). Chase really came out swinging for this one.

Is it possible to get the card number before actually get the card, like some store cards? I just found out I have an international business trip coming up in two weeks. It would be nice that I can use it to buy tickets.

Gemini wrote:
Also, anyone know which bureau chase will pull from if I apply CSR?

Chase pulled from Equifax for the CSR but YMMV. The hard inquiry dropped my score by 4 points. I'm not a churner, so I only have 2 inquiries in the last 24 months. My mind is blown by how good the CSR offer is (100k UR sign-up bonus, $300/year in travel credit, access to Priority Pass lounges for you AND companions, 3x on travel and dining, 1.5x redemption on Ultimate Rewards). Chase really came out swinging for this one.

Yeah, it's especially good if you have existing UR points from another card.
I applied for the CSP in June. Spent the $4000 on day 1 due to annual insurance bills (auto, home, umbrella).
Got the points in late july.
My husband got the CSP in late June. We spent the $4000 in two months, and he just got the points as well.
I think altogether, we spent about $4500 on each of those CSPs.

I then got the CSR on monday. Transferred my 62k UR points from CSP to the CSR.
Transferred my husband's 61k UR points from his CSP to my CSP to the CSR (I don't know the full card number yet for my CSR, so couldn't do it directly in a single step).
So now I have about 123,502 UR points in my CSR. These are worth $1,852.53 as travel booked through Chase.
That's after about $9000 spending on the two CSPs. Or about a 20.5% rewards rate. Pretty hard to beat !
OK, so I'm not counting any of the annual fees. But neither CSP has an annual fee for the first year. The CSR does, but I haven't paid it yet.
I'm also not counting the 100,000 points CSR bonus, which we haven't satisfied yet (CSR card not received yet).
Once we do, assuming we spent exactly $4k, it will be about :
227,500 UR points worth $3412 as travel, for $13k spending + the $450 annual fee. Call it $3400/13500 = 25% rewards rate.
And this is not counting the $300 per year travel credit from the CSR.
I'm not sure if my husband will qualify for his own CSR, I think he has too many card applications now
$3,400 is pretty good, but will still fund only about 1/3 to 1/5th of one 2-3 weeks vacation we typically take in Europe or Asia annually.

Now I have to figure out how to spend $6k in the next 3 months - $2k on my new Citi Hilton (75k points offer) and $4k on the CSR.

I'm really struggling with the manufactured spending.

I had a terrible experience with Plastiq. Out of 4 mortgage payments to my bank, with the same credit card, only the first one one ever went through - for $20 ! None of the others were ever received. Plastiq blames the USPS. I call BS. I certainly wouldn't trust Plastiq for the monthly minimum - I was trying to use it for my normal monthly mortgage prepayments which total $1000. But no go ! Is anyone else aware of a service like Plastiq, except one that actually works ? A 2 to 3% fee is OK when trying to minimum spend, if the service actually works !

As far as utilities, PG&E does not take credit cards, so can't use them.
Neither does San Jose water.

Santa Clara county does take credit card payments for property taxes, but charges a 2.38% convenience fee. I may very well do that since my semi-annual payment is about $6k. Normally, it's paid from escrow. I'm not sure what will happen if it's paid twice , once from the credit card, and a second time from escrow. The county could consider it the 2nd installment. Then I would have to wait 6 months for the refund. This would be annoying.

I did use that technique successfully for insurance with my CSP, though. Paid the annual home insurance policy on my CSP in June. Escrow paid it again in early July. I got a check from the insurer just a few days later for overpayment, before the CSP became due.
But this might be riskier with property taxes and the 2 installments.

Our normal card spending is between $1000 - $1500 a month, so it shouldn't be so hard to meet a $6k spend in 3 months with 3 cards. Except that most avenues for MS in the bay area have been shut down; there is no Walmart money center, post offices stopped accepting prepaid cards to purchase money orders, etc. So, I'm still struggling to find viable ways to MS. Wish a service like Plastiq actually worked. It doesn't.

nolapepper wrote:Is it possible to get the card number before actually get the card, like some store cards? I just found out I have an international business trip coming up in two weeks. It would be nice that I can use it to buy tickets.

I don't believe so. Even if you had it, you would need to activate it first in order to use it. So, wait ...

But if you have existing UR points from another Chase card, you can transfer them to the CSR, as I did. I believe you will be able to redeem your points at the 1.5 cents rate towards travel without the card number, but I have not tried yet.

nolapepper wrote:Is it possible to get the card number before actually get the card, like some store cards? I just found out I have an international business trip coming up in two weeks. It would be nice that I can use it to buy tickets.

Even if you could obtain the card number, if you're using it for an online purchase, you'd also need the security code on the card itself. Good luck finding that out ahead of time.

nolapepper wrote:Is it possible to get the card number before actually get the card, like some store cards? I just found out I have an international business trip coming up in two weeks. It would be nice that I can use it to buy tickets.

Not officially... but if you log into Chase and try to send a secure message, at one point when you're selecting your account / message type you can retrieve the 16 digit card number. You cannot retrieve the CVV. Your expiration date should be 8/19.

Seeing reports on other sites that this works, especially w/ Amazon, and you don't even need to activate the card

As far as utilities, PG&E does not take credit cards, so can't use them.

I'm in the Bay Area as well and recently prepaid on PG&E to fulfill the $4k requirement on the CSP. It's kind of hard to see where to click so here are the steps on what to do:
1) Log in to your PG & E account
2) Under the "View and Pay" Section on the left hand of the screen, click "Make an Additional Payment"
3) "Bank" is pre-selected. Change it to "Credit/Debit Card"
4) Accept that you're willing to pay the $1.25 EZ Pay Convenience Fee charged by an Independent Provider
5) Fill out your credit card information and submit

I'm not sure if there are limits to how much you can prepay. I was $300 short of meeting the credit card spending requirement to earn the bonus points so prepaid PG&E by $300 and it went through just fine (I had a balance of $0 at the time).

As far as utilities, PG&E does not take credit cards, so can't use them.

I'm in the Bay Area as well and recently prepaid on PG&E to fulfill the $4k requirement on the CSP. It's kind of hard to see where to click so here are the steps on what to do:
1) Log in to your PG & E account
2) Under the "View and Pay" Section on the left hand of the screen, click "Make an Additional Payment"
3) "Bank" is pre-selected. Change it to "Credit/Debit Card"
4) Accept that you're willing to pay the $1.25 EZ Pay Convenience Fee charged by an Independent Provider
5) Fill out your credit card information and submit

I'm not sure if there are limits to how much you can prepay. I was $300 short of meeting the credit card spending requirement to earn the bonus points so prepaid PG&E by $300 and it went through just fine (I had a balance of $0 at the time).

Thanks ! My PG&E bill is only about $800/year (have solar, so it's mostly natural gas), but prepaying it still makes sense given interest rates, and hard to beat the R.O.I with those signup bonuses and only a $1.25 fee.

This is really prepaying rather than "manufactured" spending, though. I have yet to find a single way to truly do MS that makes sense, where you buy something that you can easily liquidate to pay the bill that comes due, even with a small fee, just for the purpose of collecting those signup bonuses.

For Sapphire Reserve (which I'll apply for this weekend, hope to get it as I have less than 5/24), I wonder if there are creative ways to get the $300 travel reward that don't involve travelling. I don't think I'll have significant travel this year (plenty next). They said tolls, I wonder if prepaying EZPass $300 would do it?

nolapepper wrote:Is it possible to get the card number before actually get the card, like some store cards? I just found out I have an international business trip coming up in two weeks. It would be nice that I can use it to buy tickets.

Not officially... but if you log into Chase and try to send a secure message, at one point when you're selecting your account / message type you can retrieve the 16 digit card number. You cannot retrieve the CVV. Your expiration date should be 8/19.

Seeing reports on other sites that this works, especially w/ Amazon, and you don't even need to activate the card

Hmmm, I tried that with my wife's card today. The only part of the # that showed up was the last 4 digits, which is also available on her Chase portal.

Oh well! The branch told her she'd have it in 5-7 days. I will post when we get it to see if they're true to their word.

Da5id wrote:For Sapphire Reserve (which I'll apply for this weekend, hope to get it as I have less than 5/24), I wonder if there are creative ways to get the $300 travel reward that don't involve travelling. I don't think I'll have significant travel this year (plenty next). They said tolls, I wonder if prepaying EZPass $300 would do it?

Da5id wrote:For Sapphire Reserve (which I'll apply for this weekend, hope to get it as I have less than 5/24), I wonder if there are creative ways to get the $300 travel reward that don't involve travelling. I don't think I'll have significant travel this year (plenty next). They said tolls, I wonder if prepaying EZPass $300 would do it?

Da5id wrote:For Sapphire Reserve (which I'll apply for this weekend, hope to get it as I have less than 5/24), I wonder if there are creative ways to get the $300 travel reward that don't involve travelling. I don't think I'll have significant travel this year (plenty next). They said tolls, I wonder if prepaying EZPass $300 would do it?

Da5id wrote:For Sapphire Reserve (which I'll apply for this weekend, hope to get it as I have less than 5/24), I wonder if there are creative ways to get the $300 travel reward that don't involve travelling. I don't think I'll have significant travel this year (plenty next). They said tolls, I wonder if prepaying EZPass $300 would do it?

Just book a refundable flight and cancel it after your credit posts.

Seems risky. The original transaction and the return and usually associated with each other. Thus, the issuer (Chase) will know what you did. They may take your travel credit back, just like they deduct points when you purchase an item and subsequently return it.